Reforming

Chapter 2

"Jon," Clary cried out sharply.

Jonathan cursed. "I was just over there."

Clary gave him a look of exasperation. "Is that where you went?" Jonathan stayed quiet. "Jonathan Christopher Mor─ Fray! What is going on?"

"You know, Clare," his voice was strained. He caught her slip up.

Without another word, Clary ran the couple of blocks back to her house. She didn't hear her brother's footfalls behind her. Does he even care? Tears blurred her vision, but she desperately tried to blink them back. Something happened to her mom. Some guy named Valentine took her. Clary's heart clenched. The apartment door was on the ground, off its hinges, when she arrived. She froze for a moment, staring at the ransacked apartment. A sob rose in her throat, but she choked it back. Clary's eyes narrowed when she heard a rattling sound coming from her mother's bedroom. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, her nerves jittering.

Clary slowly made her way to the bedroom, carefully stepping over broken shards of glass and plaster. A sharp pain shot up her back, but she clenched her teeth and kept moving forward. Not seeing anything right away, Clary went further into the room. Out of nowhere, she was tackled to the ground. She hit the ground with a thump. Jonathan sat on top of her with a wild look in his eyes.

"Stay down, Clare," he hissed and pulled out a blade.

Afraid he was going to stab her, Clary kept her mouth shut and was practically glued to the spot she was laying. Jonathan, on the other hand, jumped up to kill the Ravener demon that had tried to kill his sister, but Jace stood at the door wiping demon ichor off his seraph blade. He looked toward the siblings.

"Is Clary okay?" He asked, putting the seraph blade away.

Clary was shaking uncontrollably, her eyes wide with fear. "What are you?" she whispered so low they almost couldn't hear her.

Jonathan sighed and squatted down beside Clary. She found herself flinching away from him even though inside her mind, she knew what was going on. "This is why I was waiting until the spell was undone." The hurt and pain was so prominent in his eyes that Clary had to look away guiltily.

"I'm sorry, Jon," she mumbled and squeezed her eyes shut. "Do you know where mom is?"

He took a deep breath before responding. "Valentine has her."

Once again, Clary froze, her mind whirling. Valentine. Somehow she knows him. She just knows she does. His name sounds so familiar, she thought to herself. She let her brother help her up, but her knees buckled. Clary heard both Jace and Jonathan swear.

"Wh-what's going ooonnn?" She slurred.

Jonathan swung her up into his arms like he would when she was a child. "The Ravener demon got you," he said. It was his only guess. There weren't any other possibilities.

"We'll take her to the Institute," Jace suggested."

Her brother's eyes blazed. "Absolutely not."

Jace gritted his teeth. "Do you want her to die?" he spat.

Without a moments hesitation, Jonathan replied, "Of course I don't."

"Then we'll bring her to the Institute. We can help her there. It's not like she's a mundane." Jace sounded unsure of the last part.

"Magnus can help her," Jonathan practically pleaded. "He knows her better than you. He can help her in ways that runes and herbs can't."

Jace refused to give up. "You can call Magnus from there."